The Criterion Between Allies of the Merciful & The Allies of the Devil - 1

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL

AL-FURQAN

- Chapter 1 -

All praise is to Allah. We seek His aid, ask Him for guidance, and ask His forgiveness. Weseek refuge in Allah from the evil which is in ourselves, and the wicked of our actions.Whoever Allah guides none can send astray, and whoever Allah sends astray, none canguide. We testify that there is no deity except Allah, alone and with no partner. And, wetestify that Muhammad is His slave and messenger. He sent him with the guidance and theway of truth so that He (i.e. Allah) might make it predominate over all other ways, andAllah is sufficient as a witness. He sent him preceding the Hour (

qiyama

), as a bringer of good tidings, a warner, and a caller to Allah by His permission, and as a beacon light. He(Allah) guided with it those who had been lost, and gave sight to those who had beenblind, gave uprightness and order to those who had been following unbridled impulse, Heopened unseeing eyes, deaf ears, and sealed hearts. With it, He established the criterionfor distinguishing truth from falsehood, guidance from going astray, uprightness fromfollowing of whims, the believers from the disbelievers, the joyous people of paradise andthe miserable people of the fire, and the allies of Allah from His enemies. Whoever theProphet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) has attested to as being among the allies of Allah,are the

awliyaa'

(friends or allies) of the Merciful, and whoever the Prophet has describedas being among the enemies of Allah, are indeed among the enemies of Allah, and areamong the

awliyaa'

of the

shaitaan

(devil).Allah has explained in His Book, and in the Sunnah of His Prophet that He has

awliyaa'

among the people and that

shaitaan

also has his

awliyaa'

, and He has differentiatedbetween these two types of

awliyaa'

. Allah said: “Indeed, there is no fear upon the awliyaa' of Allah, nor shall they grieve,those who believe and are ever pious in their actions. To them are gladtidings in this life and in the hereafter. There is no changing the words of Allah. That, then, is the great success.” (Qur'an Yunus 10:62-64) “Allah is the protector (ally) of those who believe, He takes them out of thedarknesses into the light. As for the disbelievers, their allies are the

taaghoot

who take them out of the light and into the darknesses. Those are the peopleof the fire, and they will be in it forever.” (Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:257)